Famous People

There was a half page piece in the Hereford Times this week about Coop, the jazzman who died recently. He was a member of the Temperance Seven, and when he and Jenny came to Hay, they bred deerhounds.
Marina was telling me that Coop bought a house in London, long before he came to Hay, which had belonged to Thomas Crapper, the toilet man. It was his grand-daughter, or great-neice, or something similar, who was selling, and Coop couldn't quite reach the asking price. The bank he approached for a mortgage would only lend the money if he modernised the property, which he didn't want to do - it was practically unchanged from Thomas Crapper's day. Fortunately for him, the lady took to him, and lowered the price - and he was able to keep it as it was. When he sold the house, the new owners did exactly the same, even to keeping the pink paint in one room that none of them liked - but it was original, or as near to the original as they could manage.

Meanwhile, Phil Rickman's new book about Merrily Watkins is out - she's the lady vicar who is also the diocesan exorcist for Herefordshire. The latest story is set arount the Templar church of Garway and the surrounding area. Garway was originally a round church, based on the Temple in Jerusalem, and when the Templars fell foul of the French King, the Knights Hospitallers (or Knights of St John) took over in Garway. It was one of their brothers who designed the dove cote, which can still be visited, and which has 666 chambers for the doves. Phil Rickman will be at Hay Castle next Thursday, signing his books. It's the first event that Tracy will be organising for Richard Booth. He'll also be signing books at Leominster and Waterstones in Hereford.

Goffee is famous locally - and I mention him because rehearsals for Hay-on-Fire have started. The Mad Morris Men were having their first rehearsal at Kilvert's on Thursday night. This year it's going to be called "Let There be Dragons", and as well as the Mad Morris Men there will be a torchlight parade to the Warren, where there will be "Thirty Foot Flames, Toppling Towers, Fire Trails, a Battle Re-enactment, Merlin, Crash Dragons, Fire Sculptures, and fireworks".